If all your clothes have logos on them, then you must be a Boomer !
Being a Boomer that spent most of his working hours immersed in business, I can appreciate having a strategy, and working my tactical part of it to be successful. True, most of the time it was not my strategy, but I belonged to the implementation plan, and was compensated if the team was successful. It was called real life, and if the strategy did not work, there were consequences.
It is with this view of politics that I am amazed that no Republicans have published a plan on how to attack, turn, understand, neutralize, energize, or otherwise compromise the 47%. You remember, the people Romney gave up on early in the last presidential race. I understand getting caught with your strategy exposed, and he really had no time to recover. He was doomed. Trying to be perfect to the other 53% was impossible.
So, thats history. Today, I remain shocked, with the 2014 US midterm elections almost upon us, why the GOP has not worked to gain the vote of portions of this 47%. At least, they should be carving sections out, gearing ideas or legislation to the various sub groups.
Lets say, for example, that the largest subgroup is the AARP, pensioners who receive a monthly cheque for Medicare. Fighting Obamacare and the Democrat screw-up may look like a differentiator, but its not turning your uncommitted numbers higher. Let it go … Perhaps negotiating a few legislative goodies with Obama in exchange for a dropping of all anti- Obamacare activities is a preferred path forward.
Emigration looks to be a great idea. I do not think that immigrants make up a large portion of the 47%, but it is a sub-group that merits attention. Most of the industrialist states, from Europe to Asia to the US need immigration, to provide the workers our service industries will need. However, the GOP prefers to play keep-away. Pushing almost any solution should attract a lot of immigrants, especially Latinos’, who should be culturally in sync with many GOP policy planks.
Blacks are probably a lost cause, but there must be some who feel the natural pull towards a conservative agenda. Where do they go if the GOP continues to push voter registration bills that are basically racially motivated ?
Women remain the other big chunk of voters who need cajoling. I will leave it to other commentators to suggest policy statements that address women’s issues, but I guarantee that every time I see an old white male lecture women on their libido’s, Boomers cringe.
This would clear the decks for the real issues discussion, on economics and inequality. Yes, individual races will have to discuss gay rights, pot legalization, climate change, and a myriad of local concerns, but at least the main thrust of the Midterms would be set, and look favourably on Republicans nationally.
Now, Ted Cruz is a smart guy, and he surely has seen that the 2016 presidential race is wide open, with lots of funders aching to back the right candidate. So, analysing his ongoing strategy would be a great start. He has given speeches about the 47%, and that the GOP should be focusing on them.
In this re-boot, he seems to be talking to people who voted for them, not the real audience of potential voters. No immigration plan, less food stamps, capped entitlements, vagina prods, less financial regulation. No discussion as to the reasons for inequality.
Where is the concern for our education system, retraining programs, the failed war on drugs, broken families, unwed mothers and unwanted teenage pregnancies. Perhaps he has no comment because most of the suggested solutions involve more government, an idea that is anemic to Conservatives. Perhaps this is why Teddy is silent on these topics. Either that or the Tea Party’s got his tongue ? Where is his plan to get the 47% number to say 35% ? Think of the government spending that would be saved !!!
The US could be seen as two nations – one with stable families, high education, and great opportunities, and one with low education, broken families and no opportunities. I wonder if this translates into red versus blue states ?
Obama’s progressive agenda for the future includes addressing globalization, technological change, widening inequality, wage stagnation, too much “me” and not enough “us”. Its forward looking, and will capture the imagination of the electorate. On the other hand, the Conservative agenda includes a decentralized entrepreneurial system with winners and losers, a tangled tax code, no Dream Act, and no thought as to how to re-invigorate an aging population. Gridlock has been the result. One wonders how Democrats, who believe in gov’t, and Republicans who believe in markets, will ever find the right mix of sellable ideas we can all live with.
An alternate point to consider, if you think the problems we face are intractable, is how can we teach Iranians or Africans about capitalism and liberal democracy if we can’t teach Alabama’ns or Texans the same rules ?
This is where Teddy loses the plot, and the electorate. Today, I applaud the Tea Party Express economically for insisting on paying for new stuff, even if that means dropping an existing program. Our needs as a society change, so it only makes sense that our spending priorities evolve as well. Need retraining, great, but fund it. Boomers would love to have these types of discussions, as opposed to filibusters about green eggs and ham ! You want to talk about real life Teddy, then stop being so politely Canadian, and really open up the dialogue. As Boomers, we dare you !
Next on Boomers – wtf !, FUBAR and Nudging, and why it good for you.
If your idea of a loaded dishwasher is a drunken wife, you must be a Boomer !
A reoccurring theme of this Boomer blog is the environment of herding cats. We Boomers want what we want, no matter what, and have been catered to for so many years, this life view is ingrained. It is thru this lens that Boomers look at the world, and make judgements.
We are severely over governed, as an example, because Boomers do not expect our politicians to make decisions for us anymore. Just give us a few facts, and we will decide. A father figure, a Regan or a Roosevelt, is no longer required, or listened to. This “me first” view makes Boomers unable to sacrifice, unless the effect or damage starts to effect them directly. Global warming is an example of this NIMBY protocol in action.
Social security, really all of our entitlements, loom as problems because Boomers believe that all these goodies have been paid for. All they had to do was work for 30 years, and voila, they can retire early and are covered for life. This out gave free reign to all the excesses of our generation, is crowding our medical system and bankrupting our pension plans. Think Detroit, many parts of California, and your plans for a secure future are evaporating. The one real truth is that Boomers are fucked financially, are living on internal organs that have been abused for decades, have decimated the planet for cheap resources, and now have trained the rest of the planet to follow our example.
Even the old ways of training Boomers is no longer effective. Woman’s breasts, as an example, have ruled the airwaves, in our shows and advertising, for both sexes, but not for long. As female Boomers age through menopause, watch the decrease in make-up and body image products. Yes, anti aging stuff and various supplements rule the consumer today, but they too will fade as the reality of older women in yoga pants as unsexy grows. For men, beer consumption is dropping worldwide. This iconic advertising home of the Breast will start to diminish, as they realize that, for now, its wrong to look at someone that could be their daughter.
Again, I am not trying to be negative, but we must continually spell out the current landscape, understand what shaped it, and understand how we got here, if we are to chart a different course forward.
So, what has our attention today ? Inequality dominates the discussion, both as a issue that, if fixed, will solve some of the problems mentioned above, and as a philosophy to follow, so that we can refine our liberal democratic systems in a capitalistic framework.
This is not to infer that capitalism is perfect. Its just the best system we have. I am very thankful that we live in a capitalistic system whereby 85 families control a large portion of the wealth on the planet. It was this system that has quadrupled our standard of living over the last 50 years, doubling it in the last 25 years. This wealth has allowed our society to have rights and privileges that we all take for granted now. Perhaps having 185 families control that much wealth would sound better, but the fact is every pyramid has a top. So, thank god for the 1% ‘ers.
Many would take my position as somehow being one sided, like I am against equality. This could not be further from the truth. The fact of the matter is that inequality, as a defining part of capitalism, even allows us to ask the question is a positive. Try that in Syria today !
The Boomer discussion on inequality is what is needed now, the sooner the better. While we do not need to burden the engine of our prosperity, some tweaks may be in order. When I have this discussion with my wife, she jumps to the 85 families stat as a fairness problem, a sharing issue that is decimating the middle class. How can we share the wealth appropriately, she asks, before the poor and newly poor revolt ? I share some of her anxiety, as we all dream of looking up the economic ladder for our future and for our idea of personal success. If too many look up the ladder and see many rungs missing, hopes may be dashed. Nothing good will come from a society that stagnates.
As an aside, it was instructive to listen to Bill Gates, of Microsoft fame and the Gates Foundation, as he exploded some myths on Poverty. One was that there were less countries that were poor today, versus the myth that we are keeping most of the world down economically. His point was that inequality between countries was decreasing, and to his reckoning, there may be no poor countries 20 years from now. I realize that there are many definitions of poor, but lets let Bill’s reflection stand. Secondly, Joseph Stiglitz, an award winning economist, recently pointed out that the industrial revolution produced great wealth for a few countries, causing great inequality around the world. Recently, however, this inequality has shrunk, as countries have slowly learned the lessons of capitalism, thrown off their ruling family despots, and put policies in place that grew their economies. Stiglitz’s point was that inequality was a choice, not necessarily an endpoint.
So, we return to Boomers and the question of what should be done to solve the inequality issue. Its up to us. Demographically, we have the numbers. Politically, we are part of the 99% who are affected, or will be affected. Economically, we have the most to lose if someone else decides for us. After all with the DAVOS meetings now underway in Switzerland, it is easy to understand that inequality, while a panel topic, is not really an “bone deep” problem for those CEO’s and political leaders flying around in their private jets.
Whatever your view of all this, lets agree that our circumstances are pretty much set, and that the only next step revolves around our individual behaviour(s) going forward. Thankfully, Boomers have the time and skills needed to fix inequality, whether you are part of the Romney 47%, or not.
Next time on Boomers – wtf !, Ted Cruz and some solutions.
If joints are what you take pills for, and are not for smoking, then you must be a Boomer !
I have to comment on the rash of high profile shootings that have occurred in the United States this week. Schools, an aging police officer in a movie theatre, and the usual street stuff, may I say how thankful all of us worldwide Boomers are for the flourishing gun culture prevalent today. I could not be happier, unless they gave everyone a gun – better yet, give every US citizen a permit to carry a concealed weapon, whether they decide to use it or not.
Why am I so jubilant ? Easy. When you define the best attributes of a Sheriff, what should you include? I think you want some religious zealotry, and have it well spelled out, so no one can be confused as to where the triggers are. I know, picking a movie should not be a killing offence, but one must accept some “noise in the system, a ghost in the machine”, as an outlier to prove the bell curve of expectations. There can be no doubt about the fervor to which most Americans feel about mainstream religion. So, no surprises, coupled with a missionary posture about spreading goodwill worldwide. Who else has 10 nuclear carrier groups patrolling the high seas just for fun ? Kinda makes China look miniscule in comparison, eh ?
I suppose having some states with different rules confuses things. That Florida rule about ” stand your ground” and the shooting of Trayvon could be seen as the sharp end of the law, but we must remember that it is not arbitrary, it is the majority rule of the land. Perhaps it is progress ?
What else can do you expect of a culture that’s eager to shoot each other ? That they will shoot you just as easily, that’s what ! The Sheriff has to always be armed, just in case. You do not have to look – seeing the Sheriff walk into a room instantly bring up certain rules. No matter what has been transpiring up to that point, as soon as the Sheriff walks in, the situation changes to a few known’s. First, no matter who started what, you will not be ending it. Second, you better speak the language, not necessarily the dialect, of the sheriff, since he will decide things. Third, you better understand the Sheriff’s motivations / objectives, because they will be the truism to which your arguments will be judged.
You also need to understand the Sheriff’s timeline, as he is busy, and only has so much time to spend on your problem because he does not want to get bogged down in your shit. It is easy to see the Taliban as waiting out the Sherriff – wait until they leave Afghanistan for example, and they can take over again. This tactic forgets the Sherriff rule, and that is they never forget, nor give up. Patience is a virtue, one the Sheriff will always have. One does not wish to be ” known to the Police, do they” ?
Lastly, the Sheriff needs to leave. No one wants the Sheriff parked in their driveway 24/7. Once the Sheriff spells out the circumstances where upon he will return, he needs to leave, and let the combatants and the neighbourhood get back to some type of normal. In normal areas, the police may cruise by occasionally, just to show that they care. In bad areas, they may set up shop – drones and their deployment come to mind here. Any sane group wants the Sheriff gone as soon as possible, so that their own culture or code of conduct can try to positively re-assert itself. Remember, the Sheriff returning looks bad on the Sheriff, and he will be in a punishing frame of mind from the getgo. Watch out, cause his rules have changed. Escalation can get nasty, trigger fingers already drawn. They would rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6 !
The point ? Ask the Iranians. They get it. Negotiate, draw in the Europeans as an easily swayed buffer, draw out the process, threaten stuff, but settle. Frankly, I am surprised at how cheap the Iranians are being. If I was them, I would look at the trillion dollars we just spent in the Middle East, and ask for the same to solve the problem. A trillion dollars would buy my super colliders, uranium, and whole towns set up to do nuclear stuff, and still have the remainder look good in Swiss accounts.
This is really where the East has lost the plot. They, the Sunni’s / Shia’s, Turks, all the other sects, have no clue as to the monies available if they wished to join us in the 21st century. I understand the whole ” Lexus and the Olive Tree” view of culture as written by the NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman ( a great writer, I loved the book ), but a carrier group does not come cheap. Values can be different, but playing the nuclear game while holding onto petty historical grievances is a recipe for disaster, a situation where cooler heads need to prevail. Lots of virgins may look motivating in the afterlife, but nuking someone has consequences in the here and now that must be controlled.
Really, all the Sheriff has done has withheld things, and we got them to the table. To coin an old axiom, we know who the Iranian’s are, we are just haggling over their commission …. When are they going to grow up and play the capitalist game, after all !
So, the Sherriff is alive and well, thank you very much.
Next on Boomers – wtf !, that great Canadian, Ted Cruz !
If hearing the phrase Rosanna Rosannadanna brings on a smile, and a tear of sadness, you must be a Boomer !
My 26 year old daughter is home, between employers, renting my basement as she soon starts her new job, and looks for a roommate. Since I was married at her age, and thus already had a mate, I have no advice for her on the SWF front. Aside from the obligatory room and board cost discussion, my focus with her has been on exploring various avenues of thought on the issues of the day.
Finally, here was my chance to quiz a Millennial, born in 1987, an educated ( she has a Masters and is working in her field ), traveled ( multiple universities, with time off for New Zealand – yes, daddy paid a portion ), an erudite and yet focused group of friends, a cohort of lawyers, phd’s, masters, 2nd language types, and environmentalists.
If you have the chance to quiz an offspring, don’t focus on the economics. I realize there are discussions in this area that need undertaking, especially if you are funding, even partially, their lifestyle by letting them use your basement. Necessary discussions, tough love, however painful. However, its a great opportunity to get some real coaching. Who else will give you the real goods, in terms of their thoughts unencumbered by an economic prerogative or intellectual slant ? Your kids already expect monetary help, and think of you as inferior, so whats to lose by asking some leading questions ? Translating their answers so that they are understandable may take a village, but is worthwhile. Just be positive, and listen, listen, listen.
As an aside, one comment from my daughter concerned the lack of financial knowledge or education that was available during her schooling. As she switches jobs and provinces, she is aghast at the amount of taxes she now pays. I resist the urge to lecture, as I am in listen mode. Besides, any hint of a criticism will end the conversation, and I will lose the opportunity to fail. I do point out some fundamental financial thoughts, like the idea that the sooner you start to save, the less you have to save later to retire comfortably. I am not sure the idea took, but I tried.
So, what was their action plan for the environment ? How would they suggest attacking inequality, both economic and social ? Were they for full immigration, or should there be consequences. Legalize pot, and what about the criminals who just wanted to supply what we all wanted ? Specifically, how about gay rights, or the war on poverty ? A group that should have answers, right !
Surprisingly not ! I grant you that its a small sample size, but these 1 % of their generation are not focused on any big social causes. Instead, they seem to be focused on many of the standard themes of their age group, namely dating, career advancement, not getting tied down necessarily, and the lack of commitment from boys. Their singular focus seems to be encapsulated by the “live and let live” mantra. Gay marriage, for example fits the ” as long as two consulting adults agree, who are we to intervene” civil rights view prevalent today. Be the best you can be may be the new slogan for our kids, as they seem to be the least values judgemental group I can think of.
Really, isn’t this what the Arab Spring is all about? If this is our greatest western export – this started to sound very egotistical in my head, like us in the west had somehow stumbled into a truth suddenly, and could now preach our wisdom worldwide with impunity. Personally, I prefer to think of our war dead and the financial cost already given to the Middle East Uprisings as starter fuel – hey, Sunni / Shiite, its up to you now, we have done our bit !!!! – well, thats not bad, considering. Materialism is a means to an end, and our kids realize that. Thank god the ME generation did not survive the 90’s.
The conversation, over our vegetarian dinner, was relaxed. My daughter was not troubled by the issues that seemed to occupy my thoughts. Remembering that from her point of view, the world was a great place, the idea that Boomer issues had their place, and that their place was not currently on a millennial’s brainspan, is a great gift we give our kids. I am reminded that some things are age dependant, and rightfully so. The fact I do not yet enjoy opera, or wish to travel back to the Irish ancestral home is not to ignore the urge, but to realize that some things are time sensitive. They will mean more if realized at the appropriate time.
Having said all that, How should Boomers react ? Should we be remain protective, and keep the hard decisions to ourselves ? Should we jerk our kids out of their cocoon, and warn them about the damage we are doing to the planet, and ourselves ? Or should we just fix things, chalk up any bad flowthrough to learning experiences, and ask forgiveness ?
Boomers would be wise to use this free time to work on our legacy. Thankfully, its the next set of kids, born since 2000, who have the participant medal attitude, that someone else will have to deal with.
Consider this time to build our resume, so that we have something to show our kids when Boomers get asked the inevitable questions about out stewardship. So, raise money to build schools in a faraway place, volunteer for a charity to help the less fortunate, conquer some inner demon, whatever you value. After all, you taught your kids their values, and they will be using your words against you soon enough.
Next time on Boomers – wtf !, whatever happened to the 47% ?
If you remember Ronald Reagan as an actor, you must be a Boomer!
Self perception can be a curious thing. Psychologists who study our life changes believe that we lack the wisdom to look convincingly into the future, and see how we, as individuals, will grow.
Its like Robert McNamara, the US Defence Secretary, who spouted on once about known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns, trying to explain a failure to win a war. Essentially, known knowns are things that you know, like how to turn on a car, or that the earth revolves around the sun. These are things that we are taught or learn in our lifetime, are visible and verifiable, and constitute our base of knowledge. This is the smallest of the three areas.
Known unknowns are things we know we do not know, like how to pilot an airplane, or perform surgery. We have heard about these unknowns, and thankfully trust someone else to know them. This group is larger than our knowns, and is only limited by the amount of education or reading we do.
The last group, the largest, are the unknown unknowns, stuff we do not have a clue exist or how they work. How do you split an atom, or that the atom exists, or know that the shift in the red spectrum means that there is a planet circling around a far away sun. These are some of my known unknowns, as be definition, I really can’t write about my unknowns, right ?
Thankfully, there are people who specialize, and they help increase our overall understanding of the galaxy. Its a little unnerving to think that I could not even fix a car engine if I had to, considering how simple it must be compared to much of the environment around us.
The point ? The psychologists talk to our current knowledge base, and compare it to who we will become, say ten years from now, by looking at the range of outcomes versus who you thought you would become. At 58, I can make predictions as to who and what I will be at 68, but chances are I will be way off, as life happens and I am pulled in many directions.
My real point ? Don’t think that just because you are you today, that you will be you +10 tomorrow ! Yes, I think most Boomers fell into the salary trap, worked hard, had families, and did some type of activity for the social enjoyment, or as compensation for having to spend a lot of time in a passion-lite job. This is what was expected of us, and to a large extend, we succeeded brilliantly. We stopped war, we increased human rights, we eradicated many types of disease, and we worked to give our kids a better life.
This discrepancy in our future view does not seems to be because of a lack of memory. Look back on yourself as a teenager, and try to reconcile the path that got you here. Fun, isn’t it ? If only you knew then what you know now ! Look at your tattoo, and ponder who you were then. Think of the journey you started on, and compare that to today’s destination ! Its a truism that we plan a straight path, and wind up with a crooked line of accomplishments / achievements.
This discrepancy could also be a defensive mechanism, as realizing how changeable our preferences are might lead us to doubt every decision we make, seeding doubt and generating anxiety unnecessarily. Its easier to only consider fewer or safer outcomes.
Lastly, perhaps its a lack of mental energy. Predicting the future takes a lot more work than simply recalling the past, and in our busy lives who has time to be so creative ? You do now ! In fact, now is the perfect time to use your creative skills.
So, take out a piece of paper, and write some regular, some scary, and some off the wall goals you would like to accomplish over the next few decades. This is not a one-time bucket list. Although there may be “once only” type goals you may have, this list is being made with the express intent of being reviewed and updated later in life.
One of my off the wall goals of 20 years ago was to have a private chat with the President of the United States. I was in private industry at the time, so I can only categorize this goal as one of pure ego. I had no subject in mind, except my perceived self importance at the time.
My wife’s main goal, from that time, was to swim with dolphins. Its not the importance of the goal that counts, its having some.
Its time for Boomers to look ahead, and plan for the unknowns. In a prior blog, I talked about planning for failure. Our goals have been modest in the past, and now, having accomplished many of the standard ones, we are free to dream. This means we can start playing the saxophone, and fail at it. Or start learning a language and then stopping. Or volunteer in our community and be unappreciated. Its the trying Boomers must see as the goal, at least to start. Don’t we learn more when we fail ?
Boomers have had a lifetime of success. We deserve, nay need, a little failure in our lives right now. How else will we discover our next passion if we do not extend ourselves a little.
Next time on Boomers – wtf !, lets consider how we can fail together.
If the only waxing you do is for your car, you must be a Boomer !
What if the basic Boomer question of our time is what to do next, which is the same question our kids have ? What if the great society issue is that we have the same question, and are looking for our own answers, at the same time ? Can this be a good thing ?
One reason why I do this blog is because I am a bored Boomer, and I see people around me glazing into the same looking glass, trying to get by the impending retirement mid-life decision. In trying to practice what I preach, I have been trying new things, to see what fits, what feels like an interesting future, what ignites a passionate response. I do need to bring in some financial compensation over time, as I can not retire to anywhere near the level I desire at this time. I understand that I do not need to make money right away, but soon. So, either I look for work, or look for the passion, with the hope that they will not be mutually exclusive. My issue with doing employment searches and looking for a hobby/lifestyle choice at the same time is that it has ended badly for me in the past. Like most people, I focused on the employment work, to the detriment of the other potential searches I could do. Ergo, the blog.
Passion may be too strong a descriptive to use to describe my goal. Kinda feels like I have to hit a homerun right off the bat. Really, there is nothing wrong with trying many things out first.
Actually, trying many things and failing at most is probably the smartest thing Boomers could do at this stage in our development. The old adage is that if you “fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. Sounds like an insurance ad jingle if you ask me. There is a great article in the New York Times, by Costica Bradatan, that this may be the perfect time to think in terms of how good failure actually is for us. His arguments are philosophical, but struck a nerve with me because Boomers have spent their whole lives tying to succeed, hiding failure, striving to blame someone or something else for mistakes, effectively ignoring or diminishing the lessons that we could have learned. When was the last time you “bit off more than you could chew ” ? Decades ?
The article makes the point that we all fail at some point, so is now the time for Boomers to recognize that we are not old dogs, and can learn new lessons ? Its in our design to die, after all. So, looking at my quest to try new things, I have been looking at my failure to find passion right away as a failure, instead of how I should be experiencing the moment, as a triumph of failure. So, I need to Plan for Failure more !
My three doors, as I call the origional quest for passion, involved trying out an instrument, a language, or further education. There are many doors, or opportunities for fulfillment, some harder to open than others, some unavailable, and some just fucking impossible. That’s right, Boomers have choices to make.
Although I can rationalize it for hours, and have to others and myself, I failed at the saxophone. I love music, but can’t seems to enjoy the work learning an easy instrument. I looked at learning a language, focusing on Spanish as the most fruitful considering the travel I would like to do long term, but realize that unless I have an environment where I will use it periodically, my chances of success of limited – did I just go and plan for success again ? Currently, I am looking at some further education as the next door.
There are many options, and I salute those Boomers who set up and run charities, spend time helping poor people in far away places build homes or schools, or volunteer in their neighborhoods to help others. All great choices, and if they find you passionate at the end of the day, congratulations. Personally, I am working on myself first, as I am a Boomer after all !
Searching for answers does seem to be a shared intergenerational quest today. Can two generations do this at the same time ? Probably not, thus the perceived inequality – the conversation sounds like “don’t mess with our searching, and we will let you sleep on the couch ! Let us figure it out, and we will leave you alone for now. If you try to push your agendas – if you even have one – we will stomp you until we get a path forward first. You can do your stuff – new technologies, training, education, social stuff like gay marriage, just leave us be for now. We are confused, and have no other answers for you at the moment. How can we guide when we are blind, or better said, still in a fog ourselves. You have all the options – more options than we have – so give us time to work things out ” !!!
Do we have our kids best interests at heart, or is this a factor we need to add to our decision mix ? What are our kids best interests anyway ? How amusing would it be if we are teaching our kids to “Plan for Failure”, and learn the life lessons therein, because we are afraid to !
Next time on Boomers – WTF !, why you are not the person you expected to be, and why you could eventually look back on this time with remorse.
If you turn off your communication appliances during conversations, you must be a Boomer !
To a Boomer child these days, trying to understand your parents seems easy. Unfortunately, it compares to trying to write a book review of something you have not read yet. Un-intelligible. To a Boomer, trying to communicate with their kids seems easy. Unfortunately, its like trying to teach them a new language, something they have never heard before.
This generation gap is not new. Being a Boomer, I can definitely remember trying to understand my parents. The old fuckers still don’t get it. I am sure my parents still consider my lack of understanding of their station to be amazing. What, am I not listening ?
What do I mean, and why is not griping essential to our future ? Consider the idea that rewards look different to succeeding levels of rewardee. Just surviving the great depression was a reward to our parents. Now, becoming a member of the 1% is our reward for sacrifice and hard work. I can not imagine having to go through a depression, and my parents can not imagine all the wondrous toys and benefits we get from our richness. Both are rewards for the same acts, but look different to the rewardee. This lack of translation, both up and down the generational ladder, is not new, but it seems different this time.
Our Boomer parents, now mostly in their 80’s, expected to be dead by now. What with eating red meat, no seat belts, smoking, and natural selection, they hoped to outlive their finances and health regimes. No-one wanted the ravages of dementia, or the long term effects of Parkinson’s to take hold. Jesus, even cancer , however bad, was thought to be a quick killer. Now, they sit like war veterans, survivors of the battlefield, coming home from surgeries or injuries that were supposed to kill them outright. I guess an honourable death is no longer allowed in the military.
I am not trying to be completely negative. Long life does have it rewards, but only if you build the appropriate family infrastructure, something a 50+% divorce rate did not plan for. I can not imagine the wonder of seeing spacecraft land on MARS and what it must mean to someone who saw air fight in its infancy. Think of giving women the vote, and you have a comparable analogy to us Boomers.
To be negative would be for us Boomers to look upon our ancestors and recognize no learning lessons. We should take the time to look beyond the frailty and learn some survival lessons from the masters. In my view, the first lesson should be for us to never give up. Technology is such that we will probably live a long healthy life. This has more ramifications than I can probably logically think through. Take healthcare for example. I would want to be kept healthy for all of my life, using whatever surgeries or medicines are available, until my mental facilities stared to go. Then, pull the plug. This may sound like death panels, a type of Solent Green ( remember that movie ? ), but once we all see the ravages of dementia in our parents or extended family, the choice will be easy.
Financially, how are we supposed to plan for 30 years of life if our work or government pensions are not geared to supporting that type of longevity ? Did you know that General Motors has retirees who have collected their pensions longer that they actually worked for GM ? Who planned for that ? Well, based on the fact that there are over $4Trillion in unfunded public pensions in the US today, I guess few of us did. Yes, $4Trillion. That’s a lot of promises that are being broken across the land, with Detroit being only the latest example.
Society itself holds lot of pitfalls for Boomers in the future. We are the large demographic moving through our prime voting time, hoovering up all for available funds, and then some. How do we reconcile leaving such large debts to our kids, a crumbling infrastructure, second mortgages on the family assets, and no vision for them to follow ? Ignore the day to day changes like gay marriage, legalized pot, mixed culture grandkids, and secular religion. These societal upheavals are only window dressing, stuff we started and now must live with. Really, they are all good things we need as a culture, but they will be seized upon by some to stop, or hold back, the fundamental changes Boomers need to start soon. Perhaps we can categorize these expectations into a bucket list. Some Boomers are proud to have allowed, like gay marriage. Some, like mixed kids, we are pretty sure that this is a good thing for society, until perhaps when your white son brings home his Black, or Asian, baby !
The real positive is that we can continue a path of optimism going forward. Just letting things occur will give us some time to figure out things, give us time to retool, and re-invent ourselves. Thankfully our usual drug regimes most of us are on will assist this transformation. Stress will have to be managed, but its doable, and is arguably our greatest generational skill. Boomers need to learn the lesson their parents did not, and, to coin an old phrase, “use it or lose “.
So, is “Plan for Success” the real Boomer pledge ? Let’s try it on for size, next on Boomers – wtf!.
If your favourite James Bond is still Sean Connery, then you must be a Boomer.
Big Data, a phrase that has been in the news recently, is the science of tracking, predicting, and rewarding consumers for their behaviour. Major retailers treat this as a way to understand their customers, target their advertising dollars, and build brand loyalty.
Spy agencies are using this technology, and probably belong on the bleeding edge of the collection process. The amount of data available, or better said, the amount of data we make public, is astonishing. Aside from our cell calls, all of our email and internet searches are also available for collection and manipulation. The argument gets to be what should remain secret, and what do we assume everyone can have access to. Its always amazing to hear Facebook users complain about their information being shared, when they put their stuff on a sharing service in the first place. In any case, Boomers still have major concerns about privacy and their personal information being stolen. That’s why we will still see checking accounts, phone banking, and cash used by the older generation whenever possible. One could say that its okay for the our kids to use the latest internet apps because they have no assets to be stolen. Identity theft is an age phenomena.
Retailers are jumping on this technology because the regular way to effectively target customers is becoming more difficult. Just look at TV advertising as an example. As people have more choice of channels to watch, advertisers can not spend more money chasing fewer views. While this is their problem to ponder, Boomers have made it much more difficult by sitting in their hi tech basements, scanning the universe without leaving their chairs. Its almost a game of cat and mouse, one that I particularly enjoy playing.
Difficult is probably the right word. Boomers, by definition, have seen 50 Superbowls, seen every type of ending, and realize that even new movies are retreads of past ideas. Northrop Frye, a great Canadian philosopher, once said that there has not been an original idea since Christ’s time. I was not sure I understood the meaning of this, until I saw the original Top Gun movie. Not the Tom Cruise one, but the movie from the 40’s, starring Robert Mitchum, among others. Yes, Top Gun was a rip-off.
Not an original thought since 0 AD. Imagine the implications ? What really is a conservative then ? A question needing another blog.
So, how do advertisers reach in and grab you ? Do we look at the car commercials for ideas ? Boomers are starting to buy sports cars, as some enter their rewards phrase. Perhaps we substitute the big breast shots for a couple of pictures of technology helping cope with the climate changing.
Do we imbed the cruise pitches with scenes of excursions where, for a day, tourists help build a school on some poor island ? Enjoy the weather, and work on your emotional suntan. Maybe dinner will taste better after a little volunteerism ?
Is there a tag between green technology and paying more for the future ? This one will be hard to pitch as money and Boomers will be exceedingly increasingly difficult to separate. Solar power and batteries are the way of the future, but the timeframe is still 20 years away. How do we increase the amount of early adapters for the things that will make the planet a better place ? Perhaps pushing the next generation to change their parents is the way to go.
How do we do it ? What could we possibly say that will get Boomers to realize that they are not retiring, just entering a new phrase. How do we surface our ideas in a media universe that is so all encompassing ? How do we get the Boomer glaze off their bellies and up into the future, over the next mountain top ?
My real fear is that the Boomers will awaken angry. They will see pension attacks on their retirement income, and resort to multiple defensive stances. Things like education and social services will come under pressure to be cut, so that Boomers can get what they figure is their birthright. A short term view to be sure, but hard to change once its imbedded.
What about health care ? After a life time of calories, obese Boomers will face unprecedented doctors bills. Can you imagine every Boomer needing a new knee or hip replacement ? I can. Heart pills, stents, cancers, and defensive medicine will be the watchword, and expensive. Paying extra for a plane seat if you are overweight is just the tip of this iceberg.
In a sense, we will need to show that the pain, or passion, has to be shared by everyone. Passion is my favourite word today, as I think Boomers are losing their ability to get excited, look long-term ( a sign of cultural intelligence ), and sacrifice. The ME generation indeed.
So, send me your ideas as to how we puncture the chaos and atrophy surrounding us ? Remember, be positive, and joyful in your comments, as Boomers know all about negative adds, cynical appeals, and hollow threats. There is no doubt that the conditioning we have received from decades of advertising has left us jaded.
Next week, on Boomers – wtf!, lets discuss your responses.
If you think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows, you must be a Boomer.
It was only a matter of time. As mentioned in my last blog, its only a matter of time before our Boomer offspring wake up politically to the damage their parents are doing to their futures. You could argue that the Occupy movement was the start of this generational discussion, but they did not offer up threats. They did draw attention ( so far ) to the disparities of our Capitalist system, but offered no solutions. To bad, but lucky for us.
Imagine if the 99% had come up with an agenda for the 1% ? They could have railed against the environmental damage the economy has unleashed on the planet, or pleaded for a solution to our growing income disparity. The point is they could have started a conversation, but did not. They could have pointed to China as an ecological disaster, but did not. They could have joined their Greek brothers and sisters to talk about debt and the broken promise of a better life, but did not. The Occupy movement seems to have just faded away !
Then, along comes Russell Brand, the Brit actor/comedian. He went on a serious BBC news show last week and accurately outlined the younger generation’s political apathy, environmental concerns, and economic frustrations with the world at large, which Boomers control. He was cogent, articulate, and committed to the need for a revolution. Fortunately, he also did not have a plan. He realizes that he is a well rewarded victim of the current economic system, and as a citizen of the world, he is allowed to voice his opinion. Thankfully. he did not also offer us a list of solutions with his vent.
As an aside, it would be easy to see this lack of alternative policy options as a the lack of imagination in our youth. Perhaps they like all the things they get from us, from free education to basement apartments with maid service. Stop. Our problems are serious, interrelated, and worldwide. Remember, if we are so smart, how come we have not solved the middle east problem ? Boomers treat this imagined complacency at their peril. There is always a solution, and the fact that it is not apparent at the moment works in our favour. We can still be part of the solution. Weren’t the streets of New York supposed to be covered in horse shit just a few decades ago, as an increasing population needed more horses as transportation ?
Even major economists are arguing about our plight. Again, thankfully, they still use the past to explain the present and predict the future. They will soon realize that the future is changing too fast to use history as a useful tool for prognostication. The latest projections say that 65% of the jobs that kids starting school today will enter have not yet been invented. Guidance Counsellor sounds like a job that will need retaining soon.
Also, the consumer population, Boomers mostly in our most wealth producing and spending time, are aging. Our need for iPhones, new cars, TV’s that interact with everything, and wired toasters will diminish. Sales pitches to aging Boomers will reach deaf ears. Once we retire, and see the actual state of our pensions, we will be spending a lot less. This will curtail economic growth. Its population demographics at its worst. Boomers will want more tax dollars just as the Treasury will be hurt by our lack of spending and tax generation. Can you say Japan ? All in all, the true definition of a slow moving train wreck.
Lets start some conversations that will engage us Boomers in solution seeking. Lets discuss ideas that are individual, and need everyone to participate. Let’s look long term as well as short term, and not treat time as ever-ending. Lets make big ideas that will interest our young. Lets set goals both realistic and currently unattainable.
What about going to Mars ? Seeing the recent news articles about the Chinese plan for a space station looked surreal. China ! Really ? Maybe we are not the only ones looking outside our stratosphere. Maybe we are not the only ones who realize that our populations need outsized goals.
How about fixing our pollution, or at least reversing the trends. Putting a price on garbage sounds like a good start. Lets start small and then work up to the big industries.
How about retooling our communities so that we can save taxes if we volunteer to perform services that we currently pay for, like school maintenance, parks upkeep, street cleaning, and neighbourhood watch ? Imagine if poor retired Boomers could earn tax credits for working in the community ? Helping for our youth may be the only way to lower our police budgets, which are becoming the major part of our tax costs locally.
So, we Boomers still have some time to right the ship. Like the Costa Concordia, the Italian cruise ship that is undergoing an historic and original salvage operation, we will need to proceed with caution. Too hasty, and we could sink our generational hand-off. Time is too precious to delay, especially when we have real problems to solve, real opportunities to sort out, real achievements to complete. As we grow as a society, and come together under one system, perhaps our goals become bigger than one person, and now need all of us to pull together.
Wouldn’t it be funny if the appropriate analogy of our day is a slave ship where we all row together to survive ?
Next time on Boomers – wtf !, the view from our basements.
If you carry jumper cables in your car, you must be a Boomer.
Like many of you, I have been watching world governments put off decisions on debt, future services, and growth all year long. Amazing. We all can name the things that appear wrong with our society, but only see inaction. Since a fundamental belief of mine is that we get the government we deserve, it’s us who have to change the storyboard of our future. Otherwise, someone somewhere else will do it for us.
All Boomers are the same. Better said, while Boomers occupy many different social strata’s, financial circumstances, political parties, and economic blind spots, these differences are small compared to the things we have in common.
For example, Boomers are all apprehensive about the future. Whether you are still working, are semi-retired, or have actually started collecting a pension, planning for the future looks like an impossible task. Yes, while we all enjoy the speeding economy and its almost magical wealth ride, few of us actually understand how it works. We are a passenger on this business train. Now, the economy is still speeding up, and we feel like we are in the station, watching the speeding train go by with no clue as to how to get on.
I have used the analogy of the train before to simplify the economic argument currently occurring everywhere. Briefly, think of our economy as a train on a track going fast into the future. Most of us are passengers on the train, enjoying the rewards associated with success. People not on the train, or those pushed off, are people who do not have the skills to succeed, are sick, or do not fit into our society today. Liberals / Democrats want to slow down the train, to allow these people on ( Obamacare ? ) – after all, the train should has room for all. Republicans / Conservatives understand that the train cannot slow down too much, because getting it back up to speed, with all the new weight, is impossible without an event, like a recession, which hurts everyone. Of course, we could agree to have a slower moving train, but why behave like Europe ? Practically, there should be a point where we can all agree on the optimal speed that keeps the economic train going forward, creating new jobs and the needed wealth to pay for our consumption, without burdening the train with too much debt, slowing it down or even stopping it. Europe, it can be argued, overburdened their economies with too much debt, and are now paying the consequences of social unrest.
Today, we have not agreed on this optimal point. Boomers, since we elected our governments, obviously want continued consumption, but do not want to pay for it – let someone else pay. Many European populations are have this conversation today, between classes, cultures, and generations. This conversation is in full swing in the US, and I believe the world is all watching to see the outcome.
So what ? Well, since the winner is still to be decided, the Tea Party is ramping up its push to minimize US spending, which it believes is out of control. We are overloading our economic train, goes their familiar refrain. With huge debts, our kids will be asked to pay our debts while remaining unemployed. or underemployed. Not a recipe for progress.
Liberals, on the other-hand, make the economic argument that the US is wealthy enough for the next major public right to be made law – allowing all citizens the right to health care. Practically, with Boomers aging, and needing this benefit shortly, how can we not institute these basic changes, which are readily acceptable and available in the rest of the civilized world.
Seen logically, both sides make their arguments persuasively. Healthcare, if not now, when we are the richest country on the planet, when will it be affordable ? Especially considering all the Boomers who will need this service, and will electorally demand it in the near future anyway. On the other hand, we are not paying our bills, our taxes are already high, and our incomes are stagnating. Let’s get our economic house in order, so our kids will not have to pay our bills.
It’s fun to note that Liberal economists like Paul Krugman wave away the Republican concerns about the debt. He forgets that the real problem with debt started with George W Bush, and 8 years of Republican’s running up the debt on wars and a prescription system that was never paid for. Tea Party’ers actually got their start just trying to bring GOP’ers back in line. Krugman argues that debt is OK as long as you save money at the appropriate stage in the economic cycle. Boomers have stopped this periodic re-balancing, because we want things, and have been bribed by all recent governments to give us what we want. So, Krugman’s theories are misplaced in the age of the Boomer.
My real question is – where are the Liberal Tea Party’ers ? Can’t they see what our debt will do to their kids ? Where is their outrage ?
Image the scenario where us Boomers continue to run up the debt, maintaining our lifestyles and the health care system needed to keep us alive forever, until we are brain dead. Our kids are not going to have the assets or wealth available to do this, and they will have to start turning out the lights, sell our houses, and approve other methods for Boomers to pay. Frankly, we should have these conversations now, while we control governments worldwide. Our kids will have their own kids, environmental issues, and economic challenges from Asia, to contend with. Putting us in a home may be their only viable option. A terrible conversation to have with your Boomer parents, but unavoidable.
Unavoidable the way Boomers are currently controlling the conversation. Its time to understand that our window of opportunity is slowly closing. What are you going to do about it ?
Next time on Boomers – wtf !, some solutions.
Boomers - wtf ! 